Been a little slow to blog this fall seems i'm so busy barely have time to keep up but here is the other "Remembering Rose" Angel I made and sold in this years Fall Festival. You can see the very before pics below when I was picking the wood.  I know the lady who bought her will be happy and will give her a good home to watch over.

I have another "Eagle" to make but doesn't look like I will get it done by Christmas, called my customer he understood but I don't like to do that just don't think I can work it in.

Finished another "Eagle" it was bought to give as a Christmas present and it turned out well. The unnamed lady who bought this was very pleased. I have another one to make by Christmas for another customer.

But, for now I have to make another "Remembering the Rose" that I sold in the Fall Festival. Busy time of year. anyway here are some pics of the very first stages of an Intarsia project. You can see i have cut all the pattern pieces out and now have to select the wood for the project. I will use Aspen for the dress, White Sycamore for the skin, Purple-heart for the shawl part of the dress, Butternut for the bench, Quilted Maple for the wings, Bubinga and Poplar for the flower and wings, and Pad-auk for the hair.

Well I thought I would put up a couple of pics of the our kitchen remodel, we got new counter tops last week and I spent most of today installing the back splash on the sink side of the kitchen will put the stove side up tomorrow. We also installed a new composite granite sink, new faucets and garbage disposal, switch  and outlet cover plates as well as all new electric outlets and switch's. A new window sill is also on the to do list.
We choose Wilsonart laminate over the other types of counter tops mostly because of the expense, and I think it looks great! We had some install issues but the installers are taking care of it. The glass and stone mosaic came from Costco. Still need to grout and am a week or so from finishing but we are excited to see it come along.

Just a little follow-up for "Remembering the Rose" it sold at auction (with all proceeds going to the missions fund) for 1000.00 and I now have to make another as the losing bidder will donate her last bid of 800.00 for one. I certainly feel honored to have made something that brought that much for such a good cause.

Back to new after a couple of weeks down with the creeping crud, finally got back into the shop.... right before I got sick I started cutting "Remembering Rose". I am making it for my church's Fall Festival and worked all day on it yesterday trying to finish it so I could have for the "preview" which was today and I just made it in time. So here she is...made from Aspen, Sycamore, Ambrosia Maple, Quilted Soft Maple, Purple-heart, Padauk, Bubinga, and Walnut. she is about 16" x 16" and has about 75 pcs.

It's my blog so i guess I can rant a little. What the hell is wrong with people? I went to wash the wifes car today and there were 2 young men at the carwash having some kind of  car stereo war, neither of which had any taste for good music. Both were young white guys playin' like they were some kinda gangster or something, saggin ass pants music so loud the vacuums couldn't cover it. I am all for personal freedom, and I played my music loud when I was young but I tried not offend others. I do have a right to go to a public place and not subjected to someone else's crap profane music. What do you do though... say something and get shot? Just got out of there as quick as I could and moved on.

Finished the Eagle! I am really proud of the way it turned out! I told my customer I almost refunded her money and kept it myself.:) 

I was able to work on the Eagle today and I made some great progress, I finished sanding, glued it to the backer board, and was able to get a good coat of danish oil on it. I think it looks great. Got to make one of these for myself some time. This is the second one I have made... the first one sold in about 2 hrs after I had it for sale so I never really got to look at it for awhile, I had some pics but believe me they don't do justice to a piece like this. The walnut in this piece is so very cool lots of grain and color variation, you really need to see it up close. I also really like the way the ambrosia maple looks as the slightly lighter color under the neck and on the upper part of the tail.

Tonight I shaped up the large wing, it is mostly tedious but very satisfying when your done. Feathers are easy and yet hard you can make each one exactly the same or mix it up some. I like to mix it up some... mother nature is not always perfect if you look at images of Eagles on the net you will notice many are missing feathers or some are broken, wear and tear of being a predator.

So I am back from a wonderful vacation... flew to San Francisco drove down Hwy 1 to San Simeon stayed the night in a beach front room, then on to Santa Barbara attended my cousins son 's wedding, had a fabulous time celebrating a great couple, drove back to San Francisco and spent 2 days with my brother and his lovely wife. Whew!

Before I left I finished cutting out the pieces for the Eagle. Walnut, Maple, Aspen and Yellow-heart, next step will be shaping it and I will start that tomorrow evening. Can't wait.... I am real excited about this piece I love my wood choices the grain had ought to really make this a fine piece! I also love this eagles "Attitude". I think my customer will be very happy!

"Remebrance" is finished , I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. I have decided not give it to the fall festival but make a different piece for the church. However I really am excited for that super special someone who is going to get it. But for now it will hang on my wall. I wouldn't say it was a difficult piece but the pillar, her hair and flowers were challenging. I think if I made one of these for sale I would probably charge 450-500. I spent about 20 hrs from start to finish.

For you inquiring minds she is 14" wide and 16" tall. I used the following woods.

Wings               Hard (curly) Maple
Dress                Cherry
Skin                  White Sycamore
Hair                  Yellow-Heart
Flowers             Bubinga
Leaves              Poplar
Pillar                 Walnut, Ambrosia Soft Maple, Butternut
Steps                 Ambrosia Soft Maple

I have already started on "Eagle in Flight" this is a commissioned piece I sold on ETSY, pics will be coming soon.

First I just want to take a moment and ask you to say a prayer for all those that passed, and the families that were affected by the horrific events on 9/11. My thanks and daily prayers go out to those who are still fighting the war on terror and defending our country and her ideals, freedoms and liberties, may God bless you all.

The angel is very close to being finished, I kinda goofed up (I think so anyway) I grabbed the teak oil instead of the danish oil and ended up with a darker finish than I wanted but I think it will still turn out pretty good. You can see the flesh, which is sycamore, got a little blotchy but it also gave it real nice tone so I guess that's the trade off.

I still need to put another coat or two of oil, using a good steel wool wipe down between coats then a couple of coats of lacquer, put a label and hanger on the back. Be sure and comment the good and the bad so I can keep on improving my techniques.

First off... the results are in and I have won a First place ribbon for my Snake Head band saw box at the State Fair of Texas, in the Designer/Craftsman division in the classification of boxes and chests. I also received a Second Place ribbon for my (ok Susan's)" Boot with Flowers" intarsia piece in the classification of inlay. Needless to say I feel pretty proud of myself, I think it's very cool. I know my Grandma Mary would be very excited! Anyway both pieces will be on display for the fair in the creative arts building so stop by and check them out if you get the chance.

I am still working on the Angel "Remembrance" and have just about finished the shaping of the major pieces. Looks like it is turning out as good as I had hoped. It took about an hour to sand the wing. Now comes the tedious part of fine sanding each piece, all 147 pieces.

Cool things happening at Dedi-Woodworks I sold a Bald Eagle tonight, I was pretty surprised as it has been up on ETSY for a long time, there were a couple other ones cheaper but not better. Looking forward to starting it but first have to finish the Angel.

You can see some of my progress tonight most of her dress is shaped up, i'm really liking the Cherry and the way the grain adds to the flow of the dress, gonna be sweeeet to the max! I also shaped the lower part of the pillar you can see the top is missing, I still didn't like the way it was looking so I will cut another one, I'll probably stack cut it so as to get a great fit similar to how I cut the bottom half.

more on the angel

The angel is starting to take better shape now I have cut most of it, I cut the hair (yellow-heart) the flowers (bubinga), and the leaves (poplar) this afternoon. These are really hard pieces the leaves and flowers are about the size of small raisins. I liked the way the colors contrast and the flowers stand out. 

What I don't like is the way the pillar is looking I may end up cutting the whole thing again, I had already decided to leave out the small round embellishments. I tried a new method (for me) of cutting the two contrasting pieces, I stacked the two pieces and set my saw at a small angle and  cut them both at the same time. The theroy is you don't have any gaps and the pieces fit perfectly together. I seem to have cut at too much angle anyway I'm not sure what i'll do there.

Sunday I took 2 pieces to the State Fair of Texas, "Boot with Flowers" Intarsia piece and a box I call "Snake Heads".

 "Boot with Flowers" I had given  to my sister-in-law as a gift, for always being such a great lady, supporting and encouraging me in my Mothers fight with cancer. It's one of my favorite works I have made. It has 11 different woods and is very dimensional... to me it sort of pops off the wood. Of course she was thrilled to let me have it back and enter it in the fair, I do have some expectation that it will ribbon but you never know. It is made from Walnut, Padauk, Hard Maple, Mahogany, Poplar, Bubinga, Yellow-heart, Purple-heart, Aspen, Aromatic Cedar, and Western Red Cedar.

"Snake Heads" is a band saw box. It is cut out on a band saw from 1 chunk of wood actually I laminated 5 quarter-sawn White Oak boards to get my chunk. This is a very easy way to make a box and the shapes are basically unlimited. You can see from one of my first blogs another band-saw box. I entered this in the fair as I felt it was pretty unique.The drawers are lined with red flocking it was on our fireplace mantle but will probably put it up for sale after the fair.

Wish me luck!

Last few nights have been getting better only 90 or so in the garage have decided to start a new intarsia project "Remembrance" pattern designed by Bruce Worthington. I have loved this angel since I first saw it and had bought the pattern about a year ago. Not sure what I will do with this piece maybe auction it at the Fall Festival or maybe a Christmas present for someone very very special. It is going to be a lot of work and a lot of pieces.

I have decided to make the wings a curly hard maple, the dress from a really nice figured cherry, the skin will be sycamore (my favorite skin wood), and for the base I will use some spalted (damaged by a fungus) maple  not sure about the pillar, her hair or flowers just yet. 

I have made my copies of the pattern attached some of them to my wood and I have already cut the wing, skin, and top of the dress.

I have removed the pattern off the skin as there are no more cuts there. I plan on cutting out the major sections then cutting those up into smaller pieces I figure it will take about  2 weeks of evening garage time to cut it all out. Then the shaping and sanding. Ill try and keep posting progress as I go.

Today I finished a Macaw puzzle it was made from poplar and the stand is made from red-oak. It is the first puzzle that I have painted and I thought it turned out pretty good. I wanted to stain it and get some brighter colors but found that bright colored wood stains are very expensive. So I ended up thinning some acrylic paint and made a wash that turned out pretty good.

It did raise the grain, which means the original sanded smooth surface finish will get a rough texture from the grain being saturated with water. The grain will raise and then needs some light sanding when it is dry. I was nervous about this as the puzzle has a very tight fit and any expansion of the wood would make it harder to fit together... and it did but not as much as I thought. One reason this was so tight fitting is I used a #3 scrollsaw blade which leaves a very small kerf and some of the lager pieces which connect in several places have to fit just right to go together.

One of the things I love about this puzzle is you can hang it anywhere... it is free standing (well sitting anyway).

I sold my shark puzzle, funny it's been for sale for about a year or more and I thought I would sell it pretty quick. OH well you just can't tell. I'd like to think updating the ETSY store front had something to do with it so we will see. Yesterday I put up my" Ktties and that darned Mouse" puzzle. I have several more puzzles I need to add to ETSY over the next few nights.

I wish it would cool down so I can get in the shop, been about 100 or better last week or two. I have several items I want / need to make... an Angel for the church's fall festival, and I have an idea to try. I have a book of tattoo patterns by Lora Irish that I want convert to some of the patterns to fretwork and make some wall "Tat's".


Still working on the church Legacy Board came to a good decision this evening so now I guess i'll have to go to Rockler or Woodcraft this weekend and get some 1/4" maple. I'll put up some pics and explain a bit later.

Today I had a chance to get back in the swing and do some of my woodworking. It felt really good to get out and make some sawdust. The garage was cool enough thanks to some local thunderstorms.

 I finished a bandsaw box I had been working on and, cut out a Cross and Flame for a project for the church. The bandsaw box just needed some flocking for the drawers, I used Royal Purple Suede-Tex, and it turned out fantastic. The box is made of Cherry and Walnut. You can see it here. It will be for sale on my ETSY site in the next few days so go  buy as baby needs some new shoes!

Welcome to Dedi's Place (they call Dead-Eye) I have no idea what I an going to do with this but thought it might be fun. we will see... I love my family and my country to fish, bird hunt, cook, sing, and work with wood. Thought I might share my views, recipes, fishing lies and some good general common sense. I also will use this to post my wood working projects.